Picasso prints exhibition in Santiago is the largest in the world

The world’s largest display of Pablo Picasso’s prints and lithographs is on display in downtown Santiago, where it will remain until April 2012.

Entitled ‘Picasso: La belleza múltiple‘ (The Multiple Beauty), the exhibition contains more than 70 works from between 1904 and 1971, tracing the distinct stages and varying techniques employed by the cubist master over his long and successful career.

Taking residence in the Art Room of the Telefónica Foundation building (Providencia 111), near Metro Baquedano, entry is free to the general public.

The works on display belong to the Picasso Foundation, based in southern Spain, and this is the first time they have come to South America.

“I don’t think it’s very often that such a complete collection of the graphic works of Picasso is compiled like this,” the exhibition’s organizer, Eugenio Carmona, told La Tercera.

“There are many Picasso exhibitions and many which focus on his graphic work, but it’s not often that an exhibition demonstrates Picasso’s creative identity so richly. I think this display has something exceptional that has not been seen before, not even in Europe or North America.”

The exhibition has been divided into 10 sections, highlighting the different stages of the artist’s creative development and his constantly evolving interpretations of the concept of beauty.

Fittingly, the Picasso exhibition coincides with a collection of surrealist paintings by his Chilean friend and colleague, Roberto Matta, which is currently on display in Santiago’s AMS Marlborough Gallery.

“It is an important opportunity to present the work of Picasso in the homeland of his friend, the great Chilean painter, Roberto Matta,” the director of the Picasso Foundation, José María Luna, told La Tercera.

The Picasso display has been organized with the support of Chilean mining company Minera Escondida. Following their stay in Santiago, the works will travel to the northern port city of Antofagasta for a short stay.